1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electrical test connectors. More particularly, it relates to easily repairable test connectors of compressible design which exert zero insertion force on the contacts of devices to be tested.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Low insertion force electrical connectors have been necessitated by the increased miniaturization of electronic devices and their attendant delicacy. Often a camming device has been the means employed to achieve zero insertion force. See, for instance, Sitzler, U.S. Pat. No. 3,744,005 and Wycheck, U.S. Pat. No. 3,426,313. Prior art devices have mainly dealt with solving the problems caused by direct insertion of the edge of a printed circuit board into a connector to join it electrically to another device and have not dealt extensively with miniaturized electronic devices having elongated contacts. Miniaturization has been limited in many camming devices which utilize a knob control. Such control may only be reduced to a limited extent and remain manually operable.
When one deals with the elongated leads of a miniaturized device, even finer control of insertion force is required than for coupling the edge of a miniaturized board. At all times, however, a reliable electrical connection must be assured between the devices to be coupled. Prior art teachings are generally not adaptable to the special problems involved in coupling miniaturized devices having small elongated contacts and do not recognize the further problems attendant in design of a connector to interface with test equipment or consoles. Such equipment is intended to repeatedly test different devices and must allow for insertion an removal with minimal degradation of contact areas, the portion of any electrical connector most prone to wear out.
The present invention solves these and other related problems by providing a small cam actuated zero insertion force electrical test connector. The cam is designed to be activated by manipulation of its major dimension, thus allowing maximum potential miniaturization. A removable and easily replaceable card having redundant electrical contact surfaces assures simple maintenance and maximum contact area.